It depends on which period of the old society you are talking about.

If it was during the Republic of China, various fees such as legal fees, paper fees, printing fees, registration fees, notarization fees, and non-litigation event application fees were levied; Some local courts have set up special business of writing form paper; Civil litigation also requires high "legal fees".

If it was the Qing Dynasty, the state law did not clearly stipulate that litigants had to pay fees, but in judicial practice, litigants paid high litigation fees. Regarding the types of legal fees, Wu Muxuan, a county magistrate in Leping County, Jiangxi Province, explained in detail as follows: "A person who complains may not be able to write his own statement, nor may he be able to extend his visit to the litigant through relatives and friends. Do litigators serve in an equal manner? Will it be necessary to stamp the book? Will it be an empty servant? Registration is not necessarily free. How can I wait for instructions without spending money? When officers go home with tickets, how can they not pay for drinks and gifts? Please extend your testimony, how can there be no round-trip replenishment fee? "

In the Qing Dynasty, prefectural and county yamen demanded fees from the parties in various litigation procedures, including: Stamp charge, registration fee for filing date, fee for submitting materials, interest and interest fee for accurate reasons, ticket fee every few days, court fees, yamen closing fees, etc. Among them, the fees charged by petty officials and officers are different. The fees charged by small officials include: Stamp charge, registration fee, submission fee, insurance fee, pen and paper fee, interest fee, examination and approval fee, ticket issuing fee, attendance fee, attendance fee and yamen fee. The fees charged by police officers are murder inspection fees, reconnaissance fees, shoes fees, rope unwinding fees, case arrival fees, house moving fees, imprisonment fees, bail fees, interest settlement fees and closing fees.

Generally speaking, the so-called legal fee system in our country was produced or legalized because from the end of Qing Dynasty, China's legal system was replaced by the transplanted continental legal system, and China began to implement the legal system of western countries, or it was the result of learning from the legal system of western countries, which was born in the old society.